nexus_crossings | swirl no. 1

She was running. Just a minute ago. She was chasing a bus, because although the next bus wouldn't delay her by more than ten minutes, fifteen max, chasing buses is an inevitable part of Aarhusian daily life. Everybody does it and so, Aki did as well. Then, she turned a corner and now, she has no idea where she is. It doesn't look like the square she was heading for, it doesn't look like a square at all.

In the blink of an eye, she's landed herself in a small, vintage-style cafe with blue-patterned porcelain and highly decorated cupcakes, beckoning for her to take a rest, enjoy a break, it seems like an invitation, the oddest she's received in her life. Aki comes to think of Alice, her great adventures in Wonderland and at the risk of running into her very own Queen of Hearts, she moves over to the nearest of the large armchairs and sits down, gingerly. Lets her eyes follow the many rows of books displayed on the shelves that are hanging on the wall. Touches her teacup with careful fingertips.

Whom might she not be joined by, in a place as dreamy as this?

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Aki's quick apology smooths out the frown lines on the woman's face to a more neutral expression. She gives her a brief nod, then takes the vacated seat, retrieving her tea and tucking herself in like a large cat. She does not take off her duster, planning to stay only long enough to finish her tea. This place isn't really her style.

She looks up at the other woman's question, as if having already forgotten about her. A silent sigh escapes her lips, but she doesn't look entirely opposed to the idea. She's in civilization, she reminds herself. No need to be so on guard.

Nodding again, she gestures to the seat across from her. Have at it.

The woman doesn't seem too fond of the idea, but with a gesture she still allows Aki to join her at the table, grants her the chance of making herself comfortable in the seat opposite of the one she's just left. The one the woman has claimed for herself once more. Aki smiles a little nervously, sits down and clasps both hands in her lap, looking the table's offerings over. The cupcakes look particularly delicious and if she isn't going into a rehearsal anyway... Her smile takes on an air of genuine enjoyment. She's definitely Alice right now.

"Thank you," she tells the other woman, first and foremost, then continues, "Can you possibly tell me where I am? I just arrived and... I feel like I'm in a rather twisted fantasy."

Sparing a glance at the cupcakes, Adina doesn't seem as tempted. Perhaps she doesn't have a sweet tooth, or she already had her fill of cupcakes earlier. She is keeping an eye on how enamored of them Aki seems to be. Why doesn't she eat one? Adina certainly isn't stopping her...

With the teacup halfway to her lips, she pauses at the question. Another sigh, just as silent, and then she's setting down her tea and pulling out her pager again.

You're in the Nexus. It's a crossroads of many different worlds. She gives Aki another measured look. Do you remember how you got here?

She is of an accommodating nature, Aki prides herself of being, she couldn't move around in this way, from Japan to the UK to Denmark (to here) if she weren't, and as such she gets used to the pager-run communication in a matter of seconds, reading over the small text and nodding in answer, quietly. "I was chasing a bus, but when I turned the corner, I was here instead of..." The slightest of pauses, she looks at the other woman, nameless still, but she's got an air about her that Aki really likes, it's reassuring, "... where I was supposed to go. They're expecting me at the theatre."

It feels as if she's blinked herself into a dreamworld, a true Wonderland. The Nexus? It seems impossible, absurd like something out of a Murakami novel, but she can hardly argue with the reality right before her eyes. She eyes the cupcakes again, sighs deeply and decides to just take one, it won't hurt her, it'll probably taste amazing. Which her first bite into it confirms. An almost swooning expression passes over her features.

Adina has been coming to the Nexus for a long time. Very little surprises her anymore. Aki's story of chasing after a bus and finding herself here instead is similar enough to other stories she's heard before. But she's quietly impressed with Aki's poise. Others have not been so calm upon discovering that they are in an entire new reality.

She lessens the tension in her back slightly, watches as the other woman helps herself to a cupcake. It reminds her of the first time she had a bite of chocolate, offered to her by a stranger in the Nexus. But the last time she had a cupcake, it was too cloying, too sweet. She'll stick with her tea for now.

That happens sometimes, she types. You probably ran through a portal without realizing it. She pauses, and then types something else. My name is Adina. Might as well introduce herself if the other woman is going to be sitting and eating that cupcake for a while.

It all seems like something out of a sci-fi movie, portals and different worlds and people from other universes living their lives here as if nothing is out of the ordinary. In the back of her mind, Aki finds herself thinking that being able to come to a world that seems untouched by the pains of her own feels in some ways like a gift. An opportunity to bring along only the best aspects of Tokyo and London and Aarhus, leaving the hurtful things and all the problems behind. She swallows another mouthful of cupcake while the woman types away at her pager, then shows it to her again. Her name is Adina. It's a beautiful name. Fantastical. Aki smiles, softly, then puts the half-eaten cake down and introduces herself, politely. "I'm Aki." A pause while she considers which of her questions to pose, she doesn't want to take too much of the woman's time, she's been enough of a disturbance already, but she can't help her curiosity. It's an entirely new world! "Do you like it here, in the Nexus?"

Her expression doesn't change much, although she does nod politely in response to the introduction. Politeness is always appreciated. She doesn't get enough of it back on her world.

She takes a sip of tea, letting Aki fill the silence with whatever she wants to ask about the Nexus. She's expecting the usual: how do I get back? Is it safe here? How does one pay for things?

The question Aki actually does ask surprises her. She is not often asked her own opinion. People are impatient enough when it comes to her communication style.

There are many nice things here that I do not have at home. But everything is very complicated. And many of the people are too soft. They think that they are safe here because of the anti-violence field, so they let down their guard. They forget to be careful.

She tempers her blunt reply with a hint of a smile. The tea here is especially good. I will put up with a lot of nonsense for it.

Aki reads over Adina's reply carefully, considering the new information and filing it away for later, should it prove important, something about an anti-violence field, whatever that means, and praise for the tea. Her smile comes very naturally to her this time around and she looks up at Adina, lips curving and softened in their lines. Before commenting on anything, though, she pours herself a cup of tea, too, because if it's so good that it can make this woman smile, it must really be very excellent.

The next question she poses takes her a while to word in a manner that she likes the sound of and at the same time, she tries not to come off as too impatient, too eager to know - as it is, she actually quite likes the atmosphere here and the company as well, so she's not really in any hurry. Except that she worries.

"Will they miss me back home? I mean, they'll notice I'm gone, won't they?"

A sudden, horrible feeling settles in the pit of her stomach, the fear that they might actually not notice, that they might not care. She's still a stranger in Denmark and in some ways, she's a stranger to her family as well, but they'd notice, right? More of a stranger she can't possibly be. Aki's smile fades into nothingness and she wraps her hands tightly around the teacup, it's heated porcelain sides.

While Aki thinks over her next question, Adina sips her tea silently. It's a pain to have to type out everything, she's not about to waste her fingers on trivial nonsense.

She does not miss how the woman's expression changes from friendly curiosity to despondence after she asks about time passing. It softens the hard lines around her mouth, makes her set down her teacup and actually spend a moment or two coming up with a reassuring response.

Time moves differently here. Only a little time may pass where you are from.

swirl no. 1

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